Tomb Raider: The Indigo Artifact
by Motifa
Summary: Lara sets out on an adventure to find a legendary tomb. Months after her trip to Yamatai. She soon finds more danger awaits her as she makes her way inside.


(This is a new story, I decided to start writing. Inbetween my chapters for my other story. I've decided to mix this storyline between the original game and the 2013 remake. Taking influences and story plots from both games. Hope you enjoy. Just don't flame me for trying.)

Tomb Raider: The Indigo Artifact

_It had been months since Yamatai. Lara was trekking a mountain cliffside in hopes of finally getting a glimpse of the supposed Incan Empire's hidden ruins in the southern heart of the Brazilian Rainforest. As she neared the edge of the cliffside. She caught a glimpse of what she thought was the canopy of a stone temple hidden amongst the trees._

"Wow... There she is. The temple of water, hidden in all it's glory. Only spoken about in Incan folklore. No one could have imagined it to be real."

Lara would take a few minutes to breath and wipe the sweat off her forehead. The scorching humid air that filled her lungs only reminded her that she'd been hiking for well over 6 hours to get here. She needed to rest and find some drinkable water. Taking only enough water from her bottle to wet her mouth. She knew conserving what little she had was extremely important. It had been days since she last ate a real meal. She was starting to get sick of the taste of bugs she had little knowledge of. Her guide had actually passed away on her during the trek to the cliffside. She looked back in the direction she came from as she reminisced over his knowledge and stories of the area. If it weren't for him, she wasn't sure how she could have survived until now. In her thoughts, as she rested. She had prayed for him. It helped her deal with the trauma of knowing his life was taken due to her need to find this supposed temple. She'd been researching the news of it ever since the recent discovery of it's possible location found in a completely area along the chilean coast. The deciphering of the Incan's hide much of the knowledge in intricately knotted messages found amongst the various ruins throughout chile. For years no one was able to fully translate what the meaning of them were until an archeology team had finally cracked the undecipherable code of what the knots actually meant. Upon Lara's reading in the National Geographic. She knew she had to be the first person to find it and discover it's secrets before it fell into the corrupt hands of someone else. The race was on and she hadn't much time to act. She immediately arranged for her stay in Brazil while she was still recouperating in Japan. She had enough of the menial life of the modernized cities of Japan. Secretly she was eager to set foot inside another undiscovered tomb. A month after arriving in Brazil she'd spent all her time in every museum she could go to. Even arranging for visits to ones along the chilean coastline. She soon realized she wasn't the only one trying to discover the Temple's location. A man whom was a close associate of her father had been sponsored by the National Geographic magazine in an attempt to recover it's artifacts. Although Lara had her doubts. She knew the experience of the man whom name was "Sigfried Reinhart" was her first real form of competition. Not only did she have less experience in the archeological field. She also hadn't the influence of the industry to back her with a full team of archeologists amid a very lucrative endorsement deal by the top leading magazine in archeological finds. When she had the chance to meet this man in person during her visits to the chilean museums. She reluctantly declined. Feeling as though she hadn't anything to say to him. He was well known and talked about but Lara got this strange feeling as though she couldn't trust him. Her father, who's life was a mystery to her due to his infrequent stays at home throughout his archeological career. The mystery of his life was partly responsible to drive Lara to become an archeologist herself. She always knew deep down she wanted to be doing whatever it was he was. He always came home during holiday seasons, telling legends of some great civilization that was merely folklore to her at the time. She now knew her father was always someone who openly questioned the true veracity of the tales being spoken about. After Yamatai, she knew she had to do this. Not only for herself but to continue her father's legacy. Having Sigfried as competition only focused her moreso as she was now toe to toe with one of her father's possibly rivals, though he wouldn't have admitted it to her. She knew now how first finds are easily taken advantage of. She wasn't going to let this one go. Using her inheritance she received upon her father's death. The time spent in research only broadened her knowledge and perspective of life in a jungle and the struggles the ancient societies that lived there.

Blinking she had to wonder how they could have assembled such masses without so much as a mechanical crane. In these harsh humid conditions, the bugs were enough to keep her up at night. She knew as she stared down at the structures below. There had to have been a lot of deaths amongst the enslaved builders. Only for her to remark on how beautiful it turned out for them.

She would start her decent when she felt fully rested. She carefully scaled the cliffside as she made her way down. Using vines along the way as she used it to swing across great gaps in the rock formations. Eventually she'd be in arm's reach of the tree's canopy brushing against the rockwall. When she got the point of a flat smooth surface she could only climb back up.

"#$% !" she thought to herself. "What the bloody %& # now?"

She looked back and forth to find a viable option. She then noticed the branch below her, which rested upon it so leisurely a vine that seemingly wrapped itself conveniently around the branch. She took only a split second to figure if it would hold her weight. She took a deep breath feeling her grip slowly start to ware iself into her hand.

"Oh god be with me!"

Letting go she'd kick against the rockwall, spreading her arms as she started to decend into a backflip. She would then pretzle her body by grabbing onto her knees and spinning like a vertical frisebee trying her hardest to gain enough momentum to allow herself to latch unto the vine that was so elusive from her starting position. She felt herself get scared for a moment before she grasped onto the vine itself letting out a slight shout.

"Aaaahhhhhhggghhhhhh!"

Clenching her teeth she'd resist the feeling in her stomach as she braced for the next set of motion she was about to endure. Going in the motion of the tree itself. She knew she had to let go of the vine while in mid swing to avoid losing her momentum. She only had seconds to plan her next move while she was free falling. There was a large branch she swung to and grabbed onto and held on for dear life.

"Aaaaggghhh! Ugh... Ughh..." gasping vocally as she hoisted herself up onto the branch. Hugging it as she took a slight breather.

"Shite, I can't believe I'm doing this. Must get down... You can do it Lara."

She would say to herself to calm herself down and give herself encouragement. Before she got up and balanced on the branch itself. She saw it start to slant downward and figured she could slide along it with her boots.

She avoided looking directly at the ground. Prefering to zone it out while she focused on the branch body. Using the split seconds she had to change her footing as she slide along its smooth belly. A miscalculation would be her down fall as a vine that she hadn't noticed tripped her while her momentum sliding down had increased. A sharp sense of fear spilled down into her heart as she felt her foot hit the vine.

"Aaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhh~!", a true scream would leave her as she fell into a descent.

Lara started to hit branches as she didn't have time to grab onto anything. Falling without any chance to turn around only mad it worse, adding to her disorientation. She would bounce immediately after hitting her third branch causing her to become heavily winded. She gasped for air, while wildly reaching her hands out for anything.

She suddenly escaped a nasty fall by grabbing onto another vine.

"# $%!"

Lara cried out, as she shed tears not only from the fear of dying but from the pain of hitting so many branches.

Deep down she remembered the same thing happening to her on Yamatai. The gods cruely deal her her fate as she was helpless to save herself until the very last minute.

Going into a dead swing into the main branch she'd land on it's side and immediately push herself off of it. Allowing herself to fall a little before firmly gripping the branch again. She was roughly 20 feet from the ground now. If she had to jump from here she'd make it but it wouldn't be comfortable enough and she then jumped to a nearby branch. Upon landing on it, it suddenly snapped and gave way.

"Aaaaaaaggggghhhhhhh~!", another true scream of fear, as it caught her off guard.

She would bounce off another branch before slamming into a large fallen tree that had rotted a little. Only to have her decent end with the semi-impalement of her private area. It hurt enough to cause Lara to cry. Quite literally she did just that. Laying on the ground crouching into a ball. She had held her private area as it throbbed in pain.

"Aaaghh, aaaggghhhhhHHH~! aagghh! ... Ugh... OH MY #$% ING GOD!"

She curled into a ball on hands and knees holding in her pain as best she could. Sitting up as she leaned her head against the very fallen tree that violated her. She continued to cry. At the back of her mind, it would seem silly for a woman in her mid twenties to be crying the way she did. Although she didn't care. It hurt like hell and there wasn't anyone around to ridicule her.

"#$% !" she'd cry out again,

"Bloody #% $ING HELL!"

*Cries*

Lara would agonize for a good 10 minutes as she felt the gods were punishing her. Watching her as she cry in pain. Eventually she'd stand up wiping away her tears. Checking to see if there was any bleeding, which there was not. She felt okay enough to keep going. Finally standnig at the foot of the Temple Ruins, she so desperately sought to find. She could only have guessed how far the others were behind her. Knowing there was enough evidence to triangulate the cordinates of the temple's location. It was a hard find but managable with the right equipment and manpower. Stuff she didn't have, though lara knew from her experience with Yamatai. She could easily adapt and work her way around obsticles as she encountered them. This time she made sure she went alone to avoid any casualties. Yamatai had taken too many of her friends that she couldn't bare to see another one of them get killed infront of her. Not this time.

Limping, she eventually stood at the very foot of the main temple pavillion. Though still occasionally wincing at the pain between her thighs. She was determined to find the secrets hidden within the temple before it could fall into the hands of the corrupt Sigfried Reinhart. A man she knew she could never trust. Lara searched around the site for what felt like an hour before she could piece together anything concrete. She noticed there was three platforms that once had stairs you could climb to. Only to have them ruined by years of decay. She made a rope using a vine she'd cut from a tree branch hoisting it over a nearby branch. Using it to scale onto the upper part of a staircase that wasn't completely ruined. To her luck it was the one she needed to onto. Now her only problem was a pressure pad that seemingly opened and closed the entrance to the main temple. The other buildings possibly housed guard posts and sleeping quarters for the people that used to live here but she wasn't here to mettle around in such small things. This wasn't the main reason to be here. There was more to this temple if it had been only told about as a legend before being discovered to be an actual monument.

"This pad won't stay down. I need something to put on it."

Lara felt stumped by the pressure pad that was now her main concern. She suddenly saw the decay of the building and wondered if she could pry off one of the rocks in the formation of the build she was on. Enough of them would be enough to simulate her weight. She understood that this most likely was a two person job but since it was only just her. She improvised a foreseeable way around this pressure pad mechanism. Grabbing out a knife she had with her. She poked away at the rock that was semi-protruding from the top of the structure she was on. With enough time and effort she was able to get it off, and etch out another two stones before setting them atop the pressure pad.

"That should do it. Now to get out of here by sundown."

Although lara felt generally more safe and comfortable to be walking around a stone structure. Truth be told, she actually got the creeps from the place. It was something that made her feel slightly uneasy as she made her way down the stairs that were broken.

She would soon step foot inside the tomb finally as she cracked a glow stick.

"I must be wary of any traps in here."

She cautioned herself while slowly disappearing into the darkness of the temple's inner structure.

Meanwhile, the sound of motors could be heard in the distance. The bouncing of the Jeep itself was enough to make Sigfried Reinhart complain more about it affecting the expensive equipment they had been bringing with them.

"If we keep bouncing like this all day. Our bloody #$ %'en equipment won't last another bloody hour. You said we'd be find the temple for us by now. Well we haven't! Why the bloody #%& am I #&$ en' paying you to guide me out here. We've been driving for hours off-road and still we don't see a bloody thing!"

Sigfried was starting to lose his patience. While his guide reassured him.

"Yes, senor Reinhart. You see I am using ancient maps provided to us by the museum of Incan Civilization that was granted to us by the Chilean government. I know we are going in the right direction. Please senor. You have to trust me!".

Sigfried would wipe his forehead with a folded cloth. "Well I'm starting to think your heading us in the wrong bloody #%$ en' direction. If we keep going on like this. I'll have you walk back just for wasting our bloody #$% en' time!"

One of Sigfried's men would callout to him. "Sir! We have found something! Sir! You must come quick!" as the Jeeps came to a stop at the sight of the temple Lara had entered an hour ago.

Upon seeing the Temple, amid remaining open due to Lara's efforts. Sigfried would order his men to set up camp.

"Alright. Let's set it up here. Seems we found the right place from the looks of it. Even if this ain't it. It'll be worth looking around in. Have the team secure the perimeter. We can't have anything endanger us while we excavate these ruins. Since the door has been left open. We might even encounter some wildlife inside. I'll need a team of you with me when we enter the temple."


End file.
